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Daily Column

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First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.

If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)

"This week, things have been very hectic. As always, the QA department has been toiling away making sure that WAR will be as polished as possible.

However, you never really get to hear all that much in the gaming press about QA. I think everyone intellectually understands what they do, but the specifics are more vague.

Also, The question I get asked the most by people is “How do I become a video-game designer?” There are multiple ways, but without a doubt, the best way is to first get your foot in the door at a studio. This usually means starting out in either Customer Service or QA.

I decided that I could kill two birds with one stone and talk to some QA testers this week. I’m really curious to hear their experiences leading up to launch, and what it’s like working in QA. Today, I talked to Jenny:" [read more]

The servers names and rulesets for Warhammer Online have been announced. You can start planning your North American/Oceania and your European adventures. There are four different rulesets, Core, Open RvR, Roleplay and Roleplay/Open RvR.

Core is like any PvE server that you have ever played on. If you stay in non-RvR areas and don't heal or otherwise assist those that are flagged RvR you will remain safe. Players on every other server type will call you a 'care bear' in one breath while complaining about the ruleset of their server in the next.

Open RvR really shouldn't require an explanation, but I know some of you want one. This is server type where the hardcore and those that think they are hardcore will congregate. The latter will leave after an hour for a core server.

Roleplay is where the players will go that think maturity is measured by how well you can pretend to be somebody else. The hardcore player killers wouldn't be caught dead on this server type. There is no time for fancy talk when you're min-maxing. The chat interface and petition queue will be overflowing with complaints of name violations making customer service not only challenging, but humorous. There will be more players named Leggolas, Leggomyeggolas and Legolamb on this server type than on any other. The people that you take pictures of at fan faires play on this server type.

Open RvR / Roleplay is a foul smelling soup of the hardcore with those that complain about the hardcore. This is where the GMs and customer service reps that Mythic management doesn't like will be stationed.

"Providing a smooth and enjoyable experience for all players is always a priority for us, and we are continually re-evaluating our policies and programs to do so. As the state of the game has matured substantially since the inception of Paid Character Transfers, we will now be allowing PvE-to-PvP transfers on a full-time basis to provide players with more mobility and freedom to easily play with their friends. "

Will there be another announcement prior to the launch of WAR? If you were Blizzard, what would you do? Hit the Loading... forums and have your say.